Sluggish Apple Sales Prompt Target to Sell Amazon Kindles

Target shocked the business world when they announced that they were going to start selling Amazon branded products again. There was speculation that Target CEO Brian Cornell who came to the company two years ago was the prime mover. The real reason is because of sluggish Apple sales.

In 2012 Target stopped selling Amazon Kindles and Barnes and Noble Nook products. This was done because Apple offered Target a very lucrative deal to stock iPads and get rid of the competition. Target does not make much of a markup selling Amazon e-readers and tablets. The allure of “all things Apple” was a sirens call that is hard to resist.

The novelty of Apple products has begun to wane at Target. During the second quarter of 2016, sales of Apple iPads, iPhones, and other devices fell 20%. CEO Brian Cornell highlighted the sales drop during an earnings call where he suggested the decline was due to a lack of “newness” and “innovation” and blamed poor Apple sales for Target’s disappointing Q2 earnings results.

Target is unsure whether or not the new iPhone 7 and new iPad models will bring in an influx of new revenue. These devices will likely have small incremental updates.

In early October Target will now be stocking Kindles, Fire Tablets, Fire TV, Echo and other products and accessories. This will be one of the few retail settings where people can try out a device, before they buy it. With Apple sales not as lucrative as they once were, the retailer really needs a win this holiday season, when new Kindle and Fire tablets are expected to be released.

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and Verge.

Sadly for Tarjshay, the original reason they stopped selling Amazon products — because they were nothing more than a showroom for Amazon — still holds.

This is an act of desperation not logic. What they SHOULD do is to start selling Kobo devices in America. The opportunity isn’t as good as it would be for B&N but at least it would make some damned sense … and give US customers the ability to buy Kobo products.

You have to wonder what’s wrong with these idiots.

bluescratch

I like Amazon alot, but I can’t see the logic in Target selling Kindles and Fires. So here is what someone can do. You go to Target, buy a Fire then go price match whatever you were shopping for with the Fire, often finding Amazon has a better deal. I’m sure people are using their smartphones anyway, but promoting Amazon brings more shoppers to Amazon, and if you’re buying it on Amazon, you’re not buying it at Target.